The Unsaintly Saints

One for the money!
Two for the show!
Three to get ready!
And...... $1500 for the first guy to take him out!

That was the motto in the New Orleans Saint's locker room from 2008 to 2010.  The saints defensive players were being payed under the table for targeting specific players.  In essence they were placing bounties on the star players of the other team to try to take them out of the game.  The players got $1000 for a player getting knocked out of the game and got $1500 for the player having to get carted off of the field.  It came to the pinnacle in the 2009 NFC Championship Game against the Minnesota Vikings where there was a $10,000 cash bounty placed on Brett Favre's head.

So "Bounty-gate" is fully underway and the investigation is just crucifying the Saints.  Not only did the Saints management know about the bounty system going on they lied to league officials about its presence in their organization.  Once all of this was found out NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell laid down the ban hammer on the Saint's franchise.  Putting some of the harshest sanctions on a NFL team in recent memory.  Head coach Sean Payton was suspended for a year starting on April 1st, G.M. Mickey Loomis was suspended for 8 games from the start of the season, assistant head coach Joe Vitt was also suspended for 6 games, former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was suspended indefinitely, they were fined $500,000 as an organization, and were stripped of two second round draft picks for this year.  All of these penalties were appealed back to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, except Gregg Williams, but he upheld all of the penalties.

Gregg Williams the man behind the bounty system at New Orleans, did not appeal his suspension.  Williams left the Saints organization last year and had recently hired over to the Ram's organization but hasn't coached or worked out with the team due to his suspension.  In his last time coaching as the Saints defensive coordinator he made some comments about players on their upcoming opponent (49ers) that essentially put the nail in his coffin so to speak.  Here is an excerpt from the story:

• On running back Frank Gore: "We've got to do everything in the world to make sure we kill Frank Gore's head. We want him running sideways. We want his head sideways."
• On running back Kendall Hunter: "Little 32, we're going to knock the f--- out of him."
• On quarterback Alex Smith: "Every single one of you, before you get off the pile, affect the head. Early, affect the head. Continue, touch and hit the head."
• On receiver Kyle Williams: "We need to find out in the first two series of the game, that little wide receiver, No. 10, about his concussion. We need to f---ing put a lick on him right now. He needs to decide. He needs to f---ing decide."
• On receiver Michael Crabtree: "We need to decide whether Crabtree wants to be a fake-ass prima donna, or he wants to be a tough guy. We need to find out. He becomes human when we f---ing take out that outside ACL."
• On tight end Vernon Davis: "We need to decide how many times we can bull rush and we can f---ing put Vernon Davis' ankles over the pile.

In a sport of increasing violence the NFL is trying to stifle that with increased player protection and new rules to help reduce the risk of injury.  With this though, it not only puts a black eye on the Saints but on the NFL as a whole.  People still remember the infamous "Pacers-Pistons Brawl" which left a huge black eye on the NBA for a long time.  After the brawl happened, which not only included players but also fans too, the NBA had to do a lot to restore their image.  They revamped their social outreach programs with the players and also reinforced the dress code for players when coming to or sitting on the bench at games.  One can only wonder what changes are going to be made by the NFL and what this mark is going to leave for them.  I bet there are a lot of bruises though.

Elite Elliott

This week I was able to meet with Elaine Elliott.  Elaine was the head basketball coach of the University of Utah's women's basketball team for 27 years.  She retired from her head coaching position at the 'U' as the winningest coach in Mountain West history with a record of 582-234.  She led the Lady Utes to 15 NCAA tournament appearances and into the Elite Eight where they lost by three to the University of Maryland who would eventually end up winning the tournament.  I was able to talk to her and ask her some questions about recruiting and how it has changed over time.

Q.  How has recruiting changed from when you started as a coach to where it is now?

A.  "Initually it was much more regional, because there wasn't as much money in the game....Now to compete at the highest levels everybody has full scholarships, everyone has a full compliment of things they can get kids.  So a kid can make decisions not based on financial merits anymore.  They can really go wherever they want to go.  It's broadened it's nationalized.....  Beyond that, there hasn't been any major differences.  I still have to find kids that fit the program, that fit the school, and fit the area.  They need to fit the process and fit the standard."

Q.  What are some key attributes that you look for in an athlete that you recruit?

A.  "For us it was always the character, the ability for kids to play on a team.  We've never been a star kind of team, we don't go after or have never been able to recruit McDonald's All Americans kids like that.  So our kids have to be the kids that really appreciate what a team is about, playing basketball for the right reasons, and coming to your school for the right reasons...... We really want to try to get kids that are going to come and make the most of that and not be real singular in their mindset."

Q.  With Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube how have those things changed the way that you recruit or the way that you look at recruits?

A.  "What they've changed is that they've really put another work burden on the coaching ranks.  Updating, upkeeping, staying current with who you are what your program is, what you want people to see about you, what your brand is, keeping it available on all of the new social media outlets is time consuming.  It's good in that it really has created  the need to really be good at putting your brand together.....  In terms of finding players it hasn't changed that.  In communication with players, finding the right ways for them.  Whether it's directly from you or through some of these third party sites cause they're pretty controlled right now for recruiting, but they're going to open up tremendously in the next couple years."

Thanks again to Coach Elliott for taking the time out to meet with me and sit down and answer some questions.